Campagna Romana near Acqua Acetosa, c.1883. Oil on wood; 97/8 x 32 inches (25 x 81 cm). Collection of William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow, catalogue no. Br072.
This is a very typical Etruscan landscape by Costa with its pronounced horizontal framework and asymmetrically arranged horizon. Although landscape is the primary emphasis of the picture an Italian peasant woman bent over at her task can be seen in the right foreground while a farmer ploughs his field with an ox in the middle ground. It shows the importance that Costa gave to light and shade and his insistence of portraying truth to nature. The oblique lighting and the prominent shadows on the hillside to the left suggest the time of day is early morning.
Julia Cartwright has discussed the power of Costa’s landscapes:
Professor Costa has painted the Pontine marshes and the desolate plains of the Campagna with as true an insight, as delicate a feeling, and as complete a technical mastery, as the lemon-groves of Capri or the jagged peaks of the Carrara hills. No one familiar with Italian scenery can fail to be struck by the essential truthfulness of all his work…Another point worthy of notice in Professor Costa’s art is that he seldom chooses what other artists would seize upon as picturesque or striking forms. True it is that the fine outline of the Carrara peaks has furnished him with more than one motive. But, as a rule, he seems to prefer scenes that are comparatively tame, and lines that are comparatively vague. What he loves best is a flat expense of seashore, with peasants at the plow, and the procession of lateen sails hovering like white sea-birds in the distance; or a sloping field of corn, lit up by a cluster of scarlett poppies, or a red cart half hidden in the brushwood. It is in the representation of such scenes, and the sentiment peculiar to them, that his power is greatest, and his art at its strongest and most original. [27]
Bibliography
Cartwright, Julia. “Giovanni Costa. Patriot and Painter.” The Magazine of Art VI (1883): 24-31.
Last modified 17 December 2022